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SARS Outbreak Fading Away, Officials Say

Sounding decidedly upbeat, international health officials declared today that the SARS epidemic was winding down all over the world, including here in China, the worst-hit country.

''I think there's very good news that the SARS epidemic is over its peak,'' said Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization representative in China. ''Our conclusion is that SARS can be contained, and that is true despite the fact that we don't have a test, treatment or cure.''

Today was the second day in a row that China had no new cases of SARS, a new and untreatable pneumonia caused by a corona virus, down from a high of more than 100 new cases a day just a month ago. Dr. Bekedam said that the World Health Organization now believed that statistics released by the Chinese government were generally reliable and that the world's largest outbreak, here in Beijing, was under control.

Of the 8,300 cases of SARS worldwide, more than 5,000 have been in China. Although SARS first appeared in southern China last fall, Chinese officials for months denied that there were any cases in mainland China. It was only in late April, after the Chinese government fired its health minister and the mayor of Beijing, that China's leaders starting revealing the full extent of their SARS problem.

Since then the Chinese government has generally followed the same aggressive public health measures that have controlled SARS outbreaks elsewhere: isolating sick patients, quarantining masses of people, checking travelers' temperatures and closing schools, movie theaters and swimming pools -- indeed, all indoor public spaces where citizens might acquire the germ.

Virtually every little village in China is now on SARS alert, with roadside booths boasting medical workers who examine all those who enter or leave.

Despite the pronounced decline in new cases, international health officials warned that continued vigilance was necessary to prevent a resurgence like the one occurring in Toronto this week. Just one highly infectious patient who goes undetected can reignite an epidemic, Dr. Bekedam said.

''There is good news today, but we are not yet there,'' he said. ''Now that we know SARS can be contained the goal is to eliminate it as a public health threat.''

While generally praising China's efforts, the World Health Organization team nonetheless acknowledged that China had been slow to cooperate and that, in part as a result, there were still major unanswered questions about the outbreak in Beijing. The Chinese only recently released their full case investigations to the health agency's advisers.

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While in most countries SARS has generally been an infection acquired from a family member or in a hospital, more random transmission was probably occurring in China, particularly in Beijing, the doctors said.

But because of poor record keeping and investigative work, it was still not clear exactly where and how infections were acquired, whether they were clustered in certain districts or may have been acquired on buses or in subways, for example.

In Beijing, more than 50 percent of people who have come down with SARS have had no known prior contact with a SARS patient -- a far higher percentage than in any other country, the international experts said. --------------------

China Detains 180 in Falun Gong

BEIJING, June 5 (Reuters) -- China has detained 180 members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement in Hebei, a rural province in central china, for spreading rumors and recruiting new followers during the SARS epidemic, state radio said today.

''They spread doomsday theories in a bid to cause panic in society and claimed that the SARS outbreak in China was a warning to those who persecute and hate the Falun Dafa,'' the report said, using another name for the movement.

''They also spread falsehoods that people who practice Falun Gong will not contract SARS in order to try to spread the cult and recruit more followers,'' it said.

Human rights groups said the government was taking advantage of the SARS crisis to crackdown on political dissidents, hoping that the international community would be distracted by the epidemic.

China has driven followers of Falun Gong deep underground since 10,000 mostly elderly members surrounded the leadership compound in Beijing in 1999 to demand recognition of their movement.